A peek into the cellar!

What's Happening in the Winery

Blending, racking and planning for harvest!

We thought some of you might be curious about what we're up to in the cellar this time of year, and wanted to invite you backstage for a peek behind the winemaker's curtain.

Earlier this spring we did the first racking of the 2017 reds. This is the process of removing the clear juice out of the barrel, then discarding the cloudy remnants at the bottom, then washing the barrels before returning the juice to its home in oak. We will do this 3 times over the 18 months the wine is in oak as a method of naturally clarifying the wine. As a reminder, our red wines are all unfiltered and unfined, so it is normal to see some sediment in the bottle from time to time.

Shortly after the racking was complete, we started our first blending trials for the vintage This is always an exciting time for us winemakers as we get our first look at how the vintage is shaping up. We now have our initial plans in place and will confirm the blends at the next racking, and then blend them as they go back into barrel for the home stretch.

Out in the vineyards, we are working with our amazing grower partners to finalize our fruit orders and set the plan for the year. We are incredibly excited to welcome two new vineyards to our program with the addition of Olsen Vineyard and Boushey Vineyard, both in the Prosser area. We will be getting some of the most highly coveted Syrah grapes in the state from Olsen, and from Boushey we are getting some Grenache Blanc. Yes, you read that correctly - Pearl and Stone will make our first white wine in the 2018 vintage with a Boushey Vineyard Grenache Blanc!